258 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
rather than seek the company of women, but he personally
had never been required to have indecent relations with any
brother. He had performed the initiation ceremony for
recruits into the Order. The first of them was received in
the same manner as he himself had been, but he accepted
all others without making them deny Christ or spit on the
crucifix or engage in any irregular practices, because he
realised that the method of his own reception was disgusting
and sacrilegious and contrary to the faith of the Church.
Jacques de Molay was examined three days later. He
admitted denying Christ three times and spitting on his recep-
tion, but he spat on the ground, not on the crucifix. Nothing
had been said on his reception about indecent relations with
other brethren. When he himself received members into
the Temple there had been no irregularity, but he explained
that he had left his assistants to complete the initiation cere-
monies. The deposition of the Grand Master omits any
reference to idolatory or any of the other charges, and it may
be assumed that de Molay contested them. For it was
common to include only admissions of guilt in a deposition,
and to leave out the negative replies of the prisoners. A
few days later de Molay repeated these avowals before the
University of Paris. Historians who pronounce the Temple
to be guilty rightly stress the importance of the Grand
Master's admissions so soon after his arrest. De Molay does,
not appear to have been tortured at any time, and certainly
not so early in the persecution. Why then should he make
such admissions if he were innocent? If the confession is
genuine—and doubt has been thrown on it—the only
explanation consistent with his innocence is fear of the conse-
quences for himself and the Templars if he denied the
charges. He is said to have especially feared the charge of
homosexuality brought against him and been promised that
this part of the indictment would not be pressed if he acknow-
ledged other charges. The Grand Master had been a great